


close your parentheses

by silpium



Series: inktober 2017 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Getting Together, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 17:43:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12259047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silpium/pseuds/silpium
Summary: After that tournament match against Kitagawa Daiichi, Hinata is riding home on the bus with the rest of his teammates, and his eyes fall to his left hand, and—To the right of the sword is a beautiful, deep blue shield with a crown in the center. It complements the scarlet of the sword’s hilt in an entrancing manner. Hinata blinks once, twice, thrice.





	close your parentheses

**Author's Note:**

> for inktober day #2, "divided."

Hinata thinks that being divided isn’t all that bad, honestly. Natsu loves that Hinata’s tattoo hasn’t been filled in yet; almost every night, he lets her imagine how it’ll be completed and draw in its other half. It’s ranged from absurd—how she thought of a cow being the other half, he’ll never guess—to fitting, with a little pen-drawn stick figure soldier wielding the elegantly inscribed sword on the back of his hand.

The little pinch in her eyebrows as she works on her masterpiece is enough to let her draw all over him. How adorably overjoyed she is when she sees the end result of her work removes any hurry to meet his soulmate and see the rest of his tattoo. After all, when they meet, Natsu’s apparent favorite pastime will be gone, and things will be… different. 

Hinata isn’t concerned, in any case. Certainly not as much as the rest of his middle school class, who just about collapse every day running around trying to meet different people, checking their tattoos every five minutes. He just doesn’t _get_ it—forcing it won’t make them any happier or more secure, if it even works. It has to happen naturally, or else the magic of it is ruined.

His disinterest in tattoos gains him few friends and fewer recruits for his volleyball team, despite his passion. But that’s okay, because it’ll all happen whenever it’s meant to—someday, he’ll have a team, and someday, he’ll have friends amongst those teammates. It’s just a matter of time.

After that tournament match against Kitagawa Daiichi, Hinata is riding home on the bus with the rest of his teammates, and his eyes fall to his left hand, and—

To the right of the sword is a beautiful, deep blue shield with a crown in the center. It complements the scarlet of the sword’s hilt in an entrancing manner. Hinata blinks once, twice, thrice. He drops his other hand to the tattoo, rubs it as though it’ll fade; it remains, persistent. 

His ears ring, and his mind is blank save for one word: _Who?_

Not anyone on his team, of course. But there were hundreds of people in that gymnasium, not even counting the people in the stands or the ones he might’ve passed by in the halls.

Finding his soulmate seems to be a hopeless task, and there’s still a deep unwillingness within him, but something about the beauty of his tattoo makes his heart flicker.

/ * \

Kageyama Tobio, Hinata finds, is attending Karasuno with him, and anger boils up within him when he first sees Kageyama practicing in the gym. But it fades with time, steadily, and soon enough, they’re in this weird halfway between friends and… not. 

Hinata can’t really tell what’s up with the situation; sometimes, it feels like Kageyama is purposefully keeping his distance from Hinata, even as they inadvertently grow closer and closer.

Hinata’s tattoo burns hot when Kageyama tells him that they’re invincible together. It simmers for the rest of the night, through the cold wind as he walks home.

It’s weird, and Hinata isn’t stupid. He kind of had his suspicions with the crown and Kageyama’s nickname, and this is just another factor. Overnight, he steels his convictions to confront Kageyama about it the next day at school.

They’re finishing cleaning up the gym after practice. Everyone else has gone. They’re putting the mops and brooms away in the closet when it climbs up his throat and bursts out of him: “Kageyama, what’s your soulmate tattoo?

Kageyama freezes. He turns to look at Hinata, and Hinata stares right back at him, refuses to back down even as his heart chills. “It’s nothing special,” Kageyama mutters.

“No, c’mon, that’s not an answer!” Hinata complains, tugging at Kageyama’s arm with far less fervor than he usually does. “Show me,” he whines, dragging out the syllables.

“Fine, fine,” Kageyama acquiesces, maybe realizing there’s more to this, maybe just not having the patience for Hinata’s antics at almost seven in the evening. He pushes up the right sleeve of his practice shirt, showing his shoulder, and it’s…

It’s there. A scarlet shield with a sun in the center with a sword with a deep blue hilt to the left of it rests on his shoulder. Hinata freezes just as Kageyama did, mouth open in a gasp—he knew it, he _knew_ it, but… 

“That’s why I didn't want to show you, stupid,” Kageyama says, but his voice lacks the bite his words imply.

Hinata is silent for a moment before it all comes spilling out.

“I don’t want to have to be—bound to someone like this,” Hinata mumbles. “I want to still be separate people. I don’t want the soulmate relationship everyone has. It—scares me.”

“You’re such an _idiot_ ,” Kageyama bites, but there’s an underlying gentleness to it that makes Hinata look up. “That we’re—soulmates doesn’t mean we have to be connected at the hip, or whatever. It doesn’t have to change anything. All it means is that we have an unbreakable connection, right?”

“And we already had that,” Hinata realizes softly. “Because we’re partners.” He bites his lip, peeling the skin a little, fumbles, “But—”

“There isn’t a ‘but,’ stupid,” Kageyama huffs. “We don’t have to be some gross soulmate couple on TV that can't live without one another. I just… I don’t want any of that. Why do we have to be?”

Hinata breaks eye contact, stares down at the ground. He’s quiet, and so is Kageyama. Hinata breathes out a long, steady breath, feels his heartbeat slow with it. 

“Aren’t you scared?” Hinata asks, voice tiny but clear in the silent night.

“Of course I am, dumbass.” Hinata almost bursts out laughing at the bluntness of Kageyama’s retort. “Why do you think—why do you think I didn’t tell you immediately? Your tattoo's right on your hand. It’s begging to be noticed. But I… I don’t know. Just at the thought of it all, I get—I don’t know.”

Hinata looks to the crown on his hand, and the echo of _and nobody was there_ rings in his mind. _King_ , he reminds himself. _Right._ “Then you’re just as stupid as me, Bakageyama!” Hinata rebutts. “I’m not gonna leave you ‘cause you’re you, or something equally dumb. I meant it when I said we’re partners.”

Kageyama is fighting off a smile and losing the battle, and, oh, it’s kind of cute. “Yeah,” he echoes. “Partners.”

/ * \

They walk home together, and everything is so achingly _normal_ that Hinata almost wonders why he was ever nervous. They don’t hold hands, don’t kiss, and Kageyama doesn't push anything further, and it’s just _nice_ , being divided still.

They progress to hand-holding, eventually, and Hinata’s tattoo tingles with warmth when Kageyama rubs his thumb over it, as he does every time. It burns hot when they confess practically at the same time, and the heat takes days to die down. 

Every night, still, Natsu draws different scenes and images all around the sword and shield, creating an array of stories to go with them. 

They’re still “dumbass” and “stupid” to one another, still argue and roughhouse over the smallest things; and it’s comforting, knowing that even as things change, they stay the same. They’re together, now; and the presence of someone to grow alongside makes their dreams as tangible as reality.

**Author's Note:**

> beta'd by my sweetheart [clem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luciferTM/pseuds/luciferTM)! 
> 
> thank you a bunch for reading!! please feel free to comment with concrit or otherwise—it's appreciated a lot!
> 
> i'm on twitter [@hhatsunetsu](https://twitter.com/hhatsunetsu) if you'd like to hmu! i'm locked currently, but i would love to chat or smth ;v;


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